Word: southeasterly
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Ultrasonic humidifier? Check. Swiftlet Bazooka Tweeter? Check. Feces powder? Er, check. All you need now is a multistory house with no doors or windows but plenty of holes, and you're almost ready to join one of Southeast Asia's fastest-growing cottage industries: harvesting edible birds' nests. (See the top 10 animal stories...
...Edible birds' nests are the handiwork of the swiftlet, a small bird found mostly in Southeast Asia that builds its nests from its saliva. Bird's-nest soup is an expensive delicacy served across the Chinese-speaking world, and the basic ingredient is in such demand that nests are sometimes called "white gold" or the "caviar of the East." In Bangkok, an 11-oz. (300 g) box can cost $2,600, while so-called health drinks comprising just 1.1% nest sell for $4 a jar. Aficionados attribute nests with the power to treat everything from cold sores to tuberculosis...
...authorities in Southeast Asian countries have not been able to control the building, never mind collect taxes on the profits. But the industry is growing too big to ignore, and there are signs that it might not stay lightly regulated for much longer. Last year Malaysian forestry officials and police raided more than a dozen illegal swiftlet farms across Sarawak, a state where only two of an estimated 1,500 birdhouses have licenses. The rest contravene local wildlife-protection laws that forbid swiftlet farms in urban areas. Sarawak's once profitable industry is grounded for now. But with unflagging demand...
...Muzak at the glitzy Grand Indonesia mall competed with the chatter from shoppers taking advantage of a national holiday to stroll through one of Southeast Asia's largest malls. Last Friday, July 17, a pair of bombs ripped through two luxury hotels in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, killing seven innocent people (plus the two suicide bombers). Yet by July 20 local residents appeared to be returning to life as normal. Indonesia had enjoyed a four-year lull in terrorist attacks, in part chalked up to a concerted government campaign to arrest and re-educate extremists. Although the blasts jolted...
...country's economic prospects: the 2003 Marriott bombing didn't result in a major investment outflow, and Bali eventually recovered economically from its attacks, which killed more than 220 people on the island. Indonesians can only hope that the latest effort to dissuade foreigners from doing business in Southeast Asia's biggest economy will also fail...